CEDAR RAPIDS – The Sealed Air Cryovac Plant in Cedar Rapids is closing. About a month ago, Cryovac warned employees the plant might shut down.

Now, more than 250 workers know they will lose their jobs sometime within the next six to ten months.

A company spokesperson says closing the plant will make Sealed Air more productive.

Jobs from the site will move to South Carolina and Arkansas. Some will also move to Mexico.
But, workers here in Cedar Rapids hope the company will change its mind.

Employees learned about Sealed Air Cryovac's plans to close the plant when they showed up for work.

"Of course, everybody's in shock and a little bit of disbelief,” Chief Union Steward Eric Wink said.

Generations of families have worked there for the past half century.

"Everybody gets along with everybody. You watch out for each other and we hope this will continue,” Wink said.

The plant makes plastic packaging for food products shipped all over the country.

"Right now, the message we're trying to get conveyed to everybody is...business as usual...don't do anything out of the ordinary. Let's just keep doing what we've been doing,” Wink said.

While it might be tough to stay focused when you've just lost your job, workers hope their positive attitudes will convince company officials to stay in Cedar Rapids.

"The goal right now is to show them this might not be the best business decision they could make,” Wink said.

After all, any manager will tell you, good, dedicated workers are an essential ingredient to any successful business.

At this point, there's no definite closing date. Workers just know they'll probably be out of a job sometime within the next six to ten months.


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Statement from Sealed Air, Cryovac's parent company:
“As part of its global manufacturing strategy, Sealed Air Corporation has been working to develop manufacturing centers of excellence in order to drive improved productivity and efficiency. The Cedar Rapids’ facility has been part of the company’s global strategic review.

This week, Sealed Air announced intentions to close the Cedar Rapids
facility and relocate the work to several existing company facilities
across our Network of North American Plant locations. The transition will occur over the next six to ten months.

This was an extremely difficult decision for Sealed Air to make,
understanding the impact to our employees and the Cedar Rapids community.

The Company considered a number of criteria – including operating costs, strategic location, proximity to other facilities and levels of technology – and it was determined we can best serve our global manufacturing strategy from other locations."